Blessa :: "Unfurl"

An expansive and pretty bit of dream-pop, Blessa, a Sheffield band, build a monument to risk on "Unfurl". Singer Olivia Neller emerges from a wall of guitar reverb and loaded bass with a brittle and brilliant vocal, breaking in and out of her upper register on the song's memorable refrain. When the chorus hits, Neller seems less to sing than to overflow in a series of rapid-fire syllables and tones. Organized chaos, "Unfurl" is barely constrained to its own architecture, a song spinning near the edge of falling apart. This is, perhaps, the prestige, the risk, the twist and the reveal. The band hints at danger and a crushing sadness, only mildly rearing at the precipice. Neller remains compelling from the ebbs and flows of the arrangement, willing to bloody her nose and lip for our circumspection.